Luke 10:25-37

content/bible_journal/luke_10:25-37.md

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+title = "Luke 10:25–37"
+date = "2022-12-07"
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+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk10.25-37)
+
+In this familiar story, an expert of the Law of Moses decides to test Jesus by
+posing an important question. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (_v.
+25_) Jesus responds by asking the lawyer to answer his own question, which he
+does. And then Luke tells us that the lawer wanted to justify himself, he asks,
+"Who is my neighbor?" (_v. 29_) This is a case of someone knowing what is the
+right thing to do, but not willing to do it, not completely.
+
+Jesus exposes his hypocrisy by telling a story of a man who is robbed on the
+road to Jericho. Both a priest and a Levite, respected members of the
+community, see the man lying on the side of the road, but pass by and do not
+help him. In their defense, they may have thought the man was dead and didnt
+want to become unclean by touching a corpse. However, we have learned that God
+is less concerned about ritual cleanliness than about kindness and mercy. Now,
+by this point the audience would be expecting to hear what a lay Israelite
+would do with this poor man, but Jesus throws a massive curveball by
+introducing a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews did not like each other in the
+first century. To hear that this Samaritan would show the robbery victim such
+extravagant kindness would be even more astonishing to the Jews in Jesus's day.
+
+So, which of the three characters was a neighbor to the man? The answer is
+obvious, and you can hear the reluctance in the voice of the lawyer when he
+answers. Then Jesus pins him down by telling him to go and live his life in the
+same way: loving your neighbor extravagantly, even when they aren't part of
+your in-group, even when it's inconvenient, even if you are effectively in
+hostile territory. Beloved, this is simple to understand, but oh so hard to do.
+Even if you are thinking, "I've done heroic things, and helped people out of
+real trouble. I'm good!" I would challenge you to not to look only at your
+successes, but at all the times you failed too. No one is consistent with this
+kind of radical love, every moment of every day, with every single person they
+come upon.
+
+* * *
+
+Help us to love everyone around us with the same love You have showed us.